Another Anglican hymn translated to Norwegian

'Glory in highest heaven' by Charles Wesley (1707-88) is a wonderful praising hymn to the Eucharist and the redeeming sacrifice of our Lord, Jesus Christ. The exciting and joyous expression in this hymn is most certainly unparalleled in Norwegian hymn literature. That is why I had to translate it into Norwegian! The Norwegian language can sometimes be quite challenging because there are fewer words to choose from, the words are often longer, and the stresses of syllables are often the opposite of English. Most times I have managed to find a way around, but this time I had to change the original metre. I hopefully did this in the most obvious manner, by simply ignoring the ties in the music (6 in total). The original metre, which is 7 7.4 4.7 D, has become 8 8.5 5.7.8 7.4 4.7. I'm sorry to deviate from the original, but in practise this is quite common to do. There are many examples of deviations in the Norwegian hymn book that are far worse offences, like changing the melody, changing the rythm or phrasing, or changing the primary message of the text while still pretending it to be a translation. I think my alterations are quite acceptable. Anyway, check it out on The Organ Amateur Page.

O store Gud...

And then of course, this is why I found that new link - the world famous Swedish hymn "O store Gud", translated from Swedish to Russian and from Russian to English: "How Great Thou Art". It is said to be the 2nd most popular hymn in the world, only preceded by Amazing Grace.

This is how they do it in South Korea :-) :
How Great Thou Art in Korean, concert version

This is a very popular hymn in the USA, and it is translated to over 100 languages, I have been told. Naturally, this hymn is hard come by in the U.K (a rivalry phenomenon, or ecumenical differences?) and in also Norway, but I guess you may come across it in a baptist church, for all I know, as it was the American baptist minister Billy Graham that really made it so popular. In Sweden this hymn belongs to the Lutheran tradition.

Just let me say it once and for all: None of the translations I have seen can match the beauty of the original Swedish version! You'll find it as no. 11 in the Swedish hymn book "Den svenska psalmboken" (catch up on your Swedish first!).

New link added

I added a new link: Swedish hymn book (in Swedish)

This is a very informative site, and really an eye-opener to me regarding hymnology in Sweden. I have never bothered to dig into the heap of Swedish hymns and history, but now I see what I have been missing. I can read and understand Swedish quite well (can not speak it, though) so I don't know why I haven't been interested in finding out more. For your information Norwegian is very similar to Swedish (more similar than Dutch to German).

Recorded in the shed...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZHMxZCqtVE

I recorded this with my mobile phone. Just to give you an idea of how it sounds like.

Pictures of the harmonium.

It's just sitting there in the shed waiting for me to fix it.

Another harmonium

Yesterday I got another harmonium for free that I am going to repair. It's a Norwegian make "Jacob Knudsen" and it seems quite salvageable despite a lot faults. It's not missing any parts, and that's a good start. Pictures coming soon...

By free, to be precisely, I mean that I rescued it from being thrown into a garbage container. It was either incineration or me taking it home. So I did... put it in the shed.